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In mathematics, the degree of a polynomial is the highest of the degrees of the polynomial's monomials (individual terms) with non-zero coefficients. The degree of a term is the sum of the exponents of the variables that appear in it, and thus is a non-negative integer .
In equations, the typical symbol for degrees of freedom is ν (lowercase Greek letter nu).In text and tables, the abbreviation "d.f." is commonly used. R. A. Fisher used n to symbolize degrees of freedom but modern usage typically reserves n for sample size.
Because the quadratic equation involves only one unknown, it is called "univariate". The quadratic equation contains only powers of x that are non-negative integers, and therefore it is a polynomial equation. In particular, it is a second-degree polynomial equation, since the greatest power is two.
Equivalently, this is the graph of the bivariate quadratic equation = + +. If a > 0, the parabola opens upwards. If a < 0, the parabola opens downwards. The coefficient a controls the degree of curvature of the graph; a larger magnitude of a gives the graph a more closed (sharply curved) appearance.
In 1830, Évariste Galois proved that most equations of degree higher than four cannot be solved by radicals, and showed that for each equation, one may decide whether it is solvable by radicals, and, if it is, solve it. This result marked the start of Galois theory and group theory, two important branches of modern algebra. Galois himself ...
More generally, if an equation P(x) = 0 of prime degree p with rational coefficients is solvable in radicals, then one can define an auxiliary equation Q(y) = 0 of degree p – 1, also with rational coefficients, such that each root of P is the sum of p-th roots of the roots of Q.
Conversely, every maximal continuously differentiable solution of this partial differentiable equation is a positively homogeneous function of degree k, defined on a positive cone (here, maximal means that the solution cannot be prolongated to a function with a larger domain).
Equations can be classified according to the types of operations and quantities involved. Important types include: An algebraic equation or polynomial equation is an equation in which both sides are polynomials (see also system of polynomial equations). These are further classified by degree: linear equation for degree one; quadratic equation ...